Deep-rooted Lincoln Beach community in Upper Burrell celebrates 100 years

Marcella Moore says her Upper Burrell neighborhood embodies the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child.”

Tucked behind Puckety Creek off Greensburg Road, Moore’s neighborhood, Lincoln Beach, is a historic, if often bypassed, group of homes and businesses with a century of stories and a reputation of caring for one another.

“This is the greatest place to raise children,” said Moore, 71.

Moore remembers her childhood, playing with friends outside all day, and all of the adults in the neighborhood — regardless of whether they were parents — looking after you.

It’s a sense of community that stretches back 100 years, to the founding of Lincoln Beach and the idea behind it.

In 1925, New Kensington real estate entrepreneur Fred J. Broad founded the Lincoln Beach community as an exclusive area for Blacks.

At the time, Lincoln Beach was an unprecedented residential subdivision for Black workers, migrants from the south and their families, who served as a reliable labor pool for local agriculture and the emerging mining and steel manufacturing industries of Western Pennsylvania.

Original plans included 280 lots and a recreation area with a swimming pool, lake, dance hall and playground.

“If you wanted to have a safe place to enjoy yourself, you came to the beach,” said Bob Chambers, who grew up across Greensburg Road in Plum but spent many summers at Lincoln Beach.

Those recreational facilities, over time, would serve as a stop along the Chicken/Chitlin Circuit — a cultural and commercial network of live bands and entertainment venues that catered to Black audiences during the Jim Crow era. Performers at Lincoln Beach included artists including Gertie Long and Her Nite Hawks and The Sunset Royal Entertainers. Musician George Benson also credits his start to playing at Mason’s Hotel at Lincoln Beach.

“This has been one of the biggest places for entertainment,” Chambers said.

Now, people who grew up there, lived there, played there or just spent time in Lincoln Beach are invited back over the July 4 weekend for a reunion, celebrating 100 years of the community.

“We’re looking to see people we haven’t seen in a while,” Moore said. “We’re looking to reconnect with people and reminisce about things.”

Sports will be among the topics.

The community had the Ravens, a regionally renowned baseball team, said Andy Thomas, who grew up in Lincoln Beach. He remembered Export-native and Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Bob Moose, and Pirates then-left fielder Willie Stargell, playing at Lincoln Beach’s ball field.

There were enough children in the neighborhood to regularly play sports, Chambers said.

“That’s where I learned to play football,” he said. “It was tackle.”

In its heyday, Lincoln Beach had more than 60 homes and 300 residents, its longtime residents say.

Animals and pets are a different story.

“You’d see a pig, to a donkey, to a dog, to a cat, to a frog …” said Rae Mason, who owns Mason’s Hotel, a local landmark. “You’d see a little bit of everything.”

‘Heaven here on Earth’

Longtime resident Michael Lubiano was known for having horses. He had 10 over the years — and everyone wanted a ride.

“It’s like heaven here on earth,” Lubiano said. “This was the most friendliest place.”

And it’s as quiet as it is friendly.

“After 9 p.m., you can hear a pin drop,” resident Cathy Peterson said.

Now about 35 to 40 people call Lincoln Beach home.

“It’s a nice place to live,” Moore said. “It’s quiet, it’s peaceful. You’d be surprised to know how many people want to have property out here now.”

Still, it wasn’t all pretty.

As a predominantly Black community, residents had to deal with segregation, a lack of public investment and even outright racism, with the neighborhood once being the target of a Ku Klux Klan cross burning.

“It wasn’t easy,” Moore said of her time in grade school. “And I’m not saying we got mistreated all the time, but there were some that were a little testy.”

Its location, at the bottom of a hill near a creek in coal country, meant problems with underground mines and flooding, issues that still flare up to this day.

It’s the family connections that make Lincoln Beach special, said the Rev. Vincent Ponder, pastor at Community Baptist Church in the neighborhood for more than 41 years.

“I’ve seen every generation,” he said. “I’ve seen grandparents and young adults become adults, and now they’ve moved on.

“Everybody cares for each other.”

Over the years, Lincoln Beach has produced many distinguished people, including doctors, police officers, members of the military, lawyers and professors, Moore said. Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Skyy Moore has connections to the beach.

“We had athletes and (college graduates,)” Moore said. “We also had people with good work ethics. We got that from our parents and grandparents.”

One such person is William “Tim” Miles Jr., who is on the planning committee for the 100th anniversary of Lincoln Beach and still owns property there.

“I think of legacy,” Miles said of Lincoln Beach. “I think of roots. I think of perseverance and community and, for me in particular, ancestry.”

Miles lives in Washington, D.C., and works as a policy adviser to U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis of Illinois.

“So many people have started there and have gone by leaps and bounds, and kept the same traits of believing in family and believing in faith,” Miles said.

Events on July 4 include a reunion BBQ, panel discussion of Lincoln Beach’s culture and community, and a proclamation reading from Upper Burrell Township Supervisor Ross G. Walker III.

A festival Saturday will feature food, music, children’s activities, vendors, games and more.

A worship joint service will take place Sunday at Community Baptist Church.

“It’s been an element and fabric of my life,” Miles said. “We joke, you’re a son of the beach. We learned everything from community to family.”